Detectives have arrested the mastermind behind the hi-tech scam that defrauded Mombasa-based microfinance of Sh900,000.

Police smoked out the suspect identified as Francis Mairura from his hideous in Nyamondo Village, Gucha South in Kisii county. 


His arrest came after the detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) followed a trail of cash transactions Mairura made to his six different M-Pesa accounts after breaching the Sacco’s IT security system.

The 22-year-old suspect executed the fraud on December 31, 2022, between 3:30 pm and 5 pm while operating between a house in Witethie Estate in Thika Town and another one at Gitambaya in Ruiru.

Read More

  1. Kenyan poultry farmers in fight for survival as US import deal looms
  2. State acquires 2 new printers, aims for 1 million passports, 3 million IDs in 2024
  3. EACC arrests DCI officer in Nyandarua for alleged bribery in M-Pesa fraud case

Upon realising the authorities were closing in on him, Mairura fled to his rural home in Kisii County.

Little did he know the police were upon him and on Friday very early in the morning, they pounced on Mairura and arrested him.

A detailed search the police conducted in the house recovered Sh600,000, three mobile phones and a laptop highly suspected to have been Mairura’s tools for the trade.


Mairura was transferred to Mombasa under tight security where he will be probed further and arraigned.